The Lacoka peewee girls knew coming in it would be an extremely tough hill to climb and the results bore that out.
The club played host to the Hockey Alberta female peewee B provincial tournament March 23 to 26, losing all three of the team’s round robin games. The final saw Stettler edge Olds 4-3 to take the title.
“We always knew provincials were going to be tough for us with several strong teams involved,” stated Lacoka co-head coach Justin Grabo.
“Despite that, the girls battled and worked hard in every game. The team just had some unlucky breaks and none of the bounces went our way.”
The locals opened the tournament on the Thursday with a 4-2 loss to Camrose, who got into the event as the wildcard. Chloe Wilton put the host side on the scoresheet 14 minutes into the middle stanza, following Camrose getting two in the first period. The visitors got that back quickly, but Hailey Huchkowski’s goal with 12 minutes left in the game gave Lacoka some life only to see Camrose end it with a goal with less than three minutes to go.
“The compliments we got stated the tournament was phenomenal and that the opening ceremonies were the best that people have seen." Lacoka co-head coach Justin Grabo.
Game number two on Friday against the Cold Lake based Lakeland Jaguars looked to be over early, with Lakeland up 3-0 just over three minutes gone in the second. However, the Lacoka squad never gave up and began its comeback with five minutes left in the middle frame on a goal by Karlee Feragen.
Feragen got her second of the game 5:25 into the third and the comeback was made complete as Wilton scored just 20 seconds later.
Unfortunately, Lakeland took advantage of a powerplay just two minutes later to take the lead then potted another goal less than a minute after to make it 5-3. The Jaguars would add another with 4:30 remaining to take the victory.
At two losses, the Lacoka club knew the playoffs were out of reach entering the last game versus Stettler so, according to Grabo, the girls just went out and had some fun. Wilton would score the club’s only marker with four minutes left in the 5-1 loss.
As for the tournament overall, Grabo said the comments him and organizers received were extremely complimentary.
“The compliments we got stated the tournament was phenomenal and that the opening ceremonies were the best that people have seen,” he stated.
“All of that can go to the hard work put in by our partners, sponsors and parents. I can’t say enough about what they all did to make this event what it was.”